Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the feeding of livestock, and in particular to a device for distributing pelletized feed.
Description of the Related Art
Cattle and other livestock are often left to gaze in a pasture and receive the majority of their nutritional requirements from the grass that they consume. In winter, or at other times when grass is not growing at a sufficient rate to sustain the livestock (such as periods of drought), hay may be fed in addition to pasture grass. In any season, however, a herdsman may decide to supplement the grass and/or hay with another type of feed. One common type of feed used as a supplement is a pelletized fee often referred to as “range cubes,” “cattle cubes” or “cake.” This pelletized feed can be fed in a bunk or feed trough in a manner similar to that used for grain or other loose feeds, or it may be distributed on the ground. Because the pellets of feed are relatively large and dense compared to loose feed, they can be consumed off of the ground without an unacceptable amount of the feed being lost or trampled into the ground, especially in dry weather.
With smaller herds, pelletized feed may be distributed by hand, such as from a pail or bucket. In larger operations, feeding by hand becomes impractical and some type of mechanical feed distributor will often be employed. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,653,567 to Taylor discloses a mobile cattle feeder comprising a hopper with a chain type conveyor mounted at the bottom. The conveyor chains are entrained around forward and rearward sprocket drums and operate to move feed toward a discharge opening which is selectively closed by a discharge door. The rearward sprocket drum has a rotor blade mounted thereon which rotates with the rearward sprocket drum. As the rotor rotates, wheels mounted at its opposite ends periodically come into contact with a lever connected to the discharge door and thereby force the discharge door open to cyclically discharge feed.